Easter Surprise

He is Risen! Allelujah -- Christ is risen indeed!!

Church this morning was amazing -- I'm convinced that no one has an Easter Sunday service that is as beautiful as the one College Church does. Pagentry, full choir, orchestra, brass, banners....and the music. Oh, the music! Ending, of course, with the congregation singing the Hallelujah Chorus. What a celebration!

We went to the 8:00 service which was fuller than usual, but not as full as I expected. Jill went at 9:30, got there on time, but went to drop Deven in the nursery and when she came upstairs, there was literally no place to sit. The balcony was full, the extra chairs in the back of the church were full, the doors had been opened to the narthex, and the entire narthex was full of chairs over into the fireside area -- all packed out. I don't think the church has ever been that full before.

As soon as Deven got here he figured out what the plastic eggs were all about. Didn't take him too long to ascertain that there were CHOCOLATES in the eggs....



We took our sweet time getting the ham out to be heated up, the (boxed) scalloped potatoes ready, the (frozen) green beans into the microwave, and the (canned) peaches into the one and only crystal bowl I own.

Eat in the dining room like civilized people, or eat in the kitchen and be comfortable? Hmmmm....

The back doorbell rang. Huh?

Oh my goodness! Happy Easter Surprise! It's Steve from next door. He's divorced with two boys around Tim's age who are both away. A few days ago I invited him to join us for dinner. He didn't look too enthused -- he was actually going to have dinner on Saturday night with some friends.... I told him to let me know if he'd like to come, and promptly forgot about it. Steve didn't call, so....

A lovely pot of pink hyacinths in hand -- Steve was ready for Easter dinner. Ulp. We weren't ready for Steve. Bob took him on a tour of the house (his was built 5 years earlier than ours, but by the same builder. His 1893 to our 1898). Jill flew into action setting the (dining room) table, while I stirred the (boxed) potatoes, buttered the (frozen) beans, sprinkled some cinnamon on the (canned) peaches and stirred up the (packaged) glaze for the ham.

The ham.

I put it in at 11:00. Should be toasty warm now.

It not only wasn't warm, it wasn't Matthew, Mark, OR Luke-warm.

It was, in a word, cold.

Aaakkk....my new oven doesn't work? Now what? Fortunately it was all cooked, and it wasn't the disaster of Christmas morning's Lazarus the Turkey.

So here I have company (I don't do hostessing well, as you might imagine. I who only applies microwave to food, and evidently can't even get the oven to turn on correctly....), everything is ready -- and I have an ice cold ham. Surprise!

"Pull the pieces off, put them on a plate and microwave them!" says my resourceful daughter -- who, by the way, cooks just about as much/well as I do. So does Torrey. However, they made sure they married men that cook very well. I forgot to add that to my checklist when I was in the husband-market.

We made it to the table with just a modicum of frenzy, the ham tasted pretty good despite it all, and Steve seemed to enjoy Tim's stories of his 24 hour adventure in Morocco and what a hookah bar was all about. (You really don't want to know except that it doesn't involve opium or hashish. At least not the one in Naperville....)

For dessert? I outdid myself and bought Dominick's "Moistest Cake You've Ever Eaten."

I did make the coffee, however.

And we had a great time. I'm glad Steve showed up.

Happy Easter!!